Purple seedling stems!

So i see a lot of people have purple stems and wonder how the hell it happens. Well for those who ask the answer is all too often 'GENETICS' or temps.

I see it as a sign of overwatering, seedlings need very little water indeed, you really would be suprised. If the roots stay wet for too long then you get purpling of the stem from phosphorous deficiency/lockout.

I grow the same seeds from the same strain and same mother, i use peat cubes but only till the seed germinates at which point the peat cube holds too much water for my liking, its like a sponge not good for drainage. So i prick the seedling out of the peat cube and replant it in my seedling soil that is amended with perlite or vermiculite.

The pics show what a healthy seedling stem should look like, pics one and two notice no purple stem or leaf veins or leaf! This is the only colour you want your seedling stem to be, unless you are growing a purple strain of which very few do or have. It is not genetics 9 out of ten times but simply overwatering.

Myth solved but open to discussion!?

Sorry last pic is my tumbling tom cherry tomato plant.

pretty girls

if your thinkin a problem its not some strains have it ive had a few grows were the whole plant is purple some just the stems in my experience it will get bigger and you will have normal stems with purple streaks in it its a genetic thing no real problem ......these look promising the mother i have that started like this is a very dam good smoke do you know the type bubba kush purple haze ect ect or is it bag seed ?

Sorry but i beg to differ, purple is only for the purple strains! I know people have purple on the plants but that dosent really have to be there. A little is acceptable but a lot occurs on a sick plant. I am only talking seedlings here as the rest is another thread.

I worked at it and am now not getting any purple, seriously weed growers dont get it like the vegetable sites do. It is linked to phosphorous lockout and sometimes iron def. Phosphorous def in flowering turns stems and petiols and whole leaves if bad PURPLE and the two times a plant needs high phosphorous is seedling and flowering! Figures now dosent it.

The reason why people quote temp as a reason for purpling stems is that cold locks out phosphorous very quickly and if a seedling is cold and need high amounts of phosphorous which is present in soil but locked out easily with low temps then hey presto the same thing happens, purple stem from phosphorous deficiency! Why dose no one know this or say genetics, thats a myth for purple strains.

Seriously look at my seedling, no purple and it had very minimal water since it sprouted and good drainage, perfection is almost there for me and seedlings, you may accept purple seedling stems and leaves but quite obviously i didnt and worked at it. Peace

My seedling stems were all purple. Now it looks like the purple was just a covering or something. The plant pretty much out grew it.

To be expected, as the plant grows a bigger root system the effects of overwatering are less and less. Try giving your seedlings very small amounts of water so the soil or peat cube dries in like 2 days or similar and watch the purple dissapear as you get the waterings and wet and dry cycles right, providing temps are warm.

Everyone has purple stems but no one knows what it is, shame i had to take the hard way and find out myself! Peace

agreed with temp but in my grows i have delt with good and bad purples in my experience good genetic purples are deep in color bads have always started and been a lighter color with a lil more redish shade in the purple do you have a veiw on this ....and i was comparing this to one of my plants that is for sure a purple genetic plant... now i have seen less color of the purple even in seedlings in hybrids but thats also why i asked for the strain because i agree some should not have this at all and could be a big red flag but yours look to be of indica origin and would point to a purple strain there are far more purps in indica then sativa but there are also some hybrids that take this genetic trait dominate and you can get a purp sativa this is why i ask your view on the difference of shade of purple as a indicator of good or bad now i am goin off of my experience here and ive only delt with 5 strains a hybrid i breed and some bag seed plants

I have seen purple strains, it is obvious with the deeply coloured leaves normally. I like a lot of others do not grow purple strains though. This is dutch passion white widow and should be green not purple as you see in the seedlings i watered the least.

If you had a purple strain you would probably not ask why is my seedling purple so i take it most people who ask do not have a purple strain.

Also most spin this purple stem by claiming it is of purple genetics which 9 out of ten times it just simply isnt. Peace

dont purple plants only turn purple in flower anyway?

There are a few different strains. First purple strains i ever heard about was just the trics that turned blue or purple then i started seeing purple leaves and stems so i guess there are a few different strains about. Not many grow these though opting for the classic white strains or cheese or NL.

yes but alot of people who ask Q's why there stems are purple are new and start with bag seed to get there barrings but with what you stated you should be able to find the origin of bag seed with treat every seedling the same concept lil water as possible without makein it to dry for to long stems not purple... not in the genetics... if its still there.... it is... but there is always human error with buyin seeds ive ordered and had that odd ball plant that is not what u ordered lol

Yer i make my own feminised seeds so results are always the same, i too use to think genetics but realise that was wrong in my situation. It is worth aiming for on non purple strains to have no purple on the plant seedling veg or flowering. Took me a long time to get perfect seedlings but they are totally worth it now. Peace

Hi there, im new to this forum but Im also having the same problem, but only on one of 6. they are all about 5 weeks old maybe 6 (i dont keep count like everyone else). Im using an agro max high output led i borrowed from a buddy. Organic Iguana Juice Grow (3-2-3) every other feeding and feeding as needed about every other day. i use a mixture of 1/2good ol florida dirt and 1/3 potting soil and 1/6 cow manure. this is my first encounter with any purpling. i have done a lot of looking into the purpling on the leaves since i first noticed it about a month ago. It seems healthy all around, but the purple shading under the leaves and on the fan leaves stems and even a purple hue on new growth had me confused and curious. And after a month of waiting and nothing changing and my patience dwindling... i decided to join and see if you pros could tell me what is wrong and what i should do. i stopped giving fert 3 days ago




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Well I don't think you can really discount genetics as much as you appear to be. Without knowing the exact liniage of the strain and all its recessive traits you really can't say that is not causing the color. Sure the linage can be reasonably guessed at from some sites around but the true list of traits, both recessive and dominant, is probably out of reach. I doubt even your average breeder has that knowledge. Its a numbers game to document those pesky recessive genes that peek out from time to time.
That aside, I had read somewhere that it might have something to do with the hormones that cause the stiffining of the stems.

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